Lovers Wear Rose Colored Glasses

Abstract

It was proposed that people falling in love differ from people not in love on a variety of variables, viewing the world more positively, such that `lovers wear rose colored glasses'. This proposal was tested in two studies. In the first study, 235 college students completed a questionnaire battery. About half of the students were currently in love (n = 125) and half were not (n = 110). Subjects in love were more erotic and agapic and less game-playing in their love attitudes and less permissive and instrumental in their sexual attitudes than subjects not in love. Subjects in love were also lower in self-monitoring and sensation-seeking than subjects not in love. Previously found gender main effects were replicated, and gender interacted with love status on only 2 of 26 measures. The second study used a large sample (n = 789) of subjects available from past research to examine in more detail the effects of love status on love and sex attitudes. Results replicated those from the first study. In addition, factor analyses of the six love and four sex attitude scale scores indicated that the factor structures differed for the two love status groups. In general, the results from the two studies indicated that falling in love is systematically related to broad changes on several variables. The studies also clarified the relation between Lee's (1973) topology of love attitudes and the phenomenon of falling in love.